Modelling Hot Spots of Soil Loss by Wind Erosion (SoLoWind) in Western Saxony, Germany

Land Degradation and Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. While it needs yet to be assessed whether or not wind erosion in Western Saxony is a major point of concern regarding land degradation and fertility, it has already been recognized that considerable off-site effects of wind erosion in the adjacent regions of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg are connected to the spread of herbicides, pesticides and dust. So far, no wind erosion assessment for Western Saxony, Germany, exists. The wind erosion model previously applied for Germany (DIN standard 19706) is considering neither changes in wind direction over time nor influences of field size. This study aims to provide a first assessment of wind erosion for Western Saxony by extending the existing DIN model to a multidirectional model on soil loss by wind (SoLoWind) with new controlling factors (changing wind directions, soil cover, mean field length and mean protection zone) combined by fuzzy logic. SoLoWind is used for a local off-site effect evaluation in combination with high-resolution wind speed and wind direction data at a section of the highway A72. The model attributes 3·6% of the arable fields in Western Saxony to the very-high-wind erosion risk class. A relationship between larger fields (greater than 116 ha) and higher proportions (51·7%) of very-high-wind erosion risk can be observed. Sections of the highway A72 might be under high risk according to the modelled off-site effects of wind erosion. The presented applications showed the potential of SoLoWind to support and consult management for protection measures on a regional scale. © 2016 The Authors. Land Degradation and Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The authors would like to thank Jürgen Heinrich and Gudrun Mayer for the technical revision of the model conception and the German Weather Service, the Saxon State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, the Saxon State Office for Road Construction and Traffic, the Saxon State Ministry of the Environment and Agriculture, the Saxon State Spatial Data and Land Survey Corporation, the Saxon Road Maintenance Depots, OpenStreetMap and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for providing the datasets. We would also like to thank three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Conformation-Sensitive Monoclonal Antibody against the A2 Domain of von Willebrand Factor Reduces Its Proteolysis by ADAMTS13

The size of von Willebrand factor (VWF), controlled by ADAMTS13-dependent proteolysis, is associated with its hemostatic activity. Many factors regulate ADAMTS13-dependent VWF proteolysis through their interaction with VWF. These include coagulation factor VIII, platelet glycoprotein 1bα, and heparin sulfate, which accelerate the cleavage of VWF. Conversely, thrombospondin-1 decreases the rate of VWF proteolysis by ADAMTS13 by competing with ADAMTS13 for the A3 domain of VWF. To investigate whether murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against human VWF affect the susceptibility of VWF to proteolysis by ADAMTS13 in vitro, eight mAbs to different domains of human VWF were used to evaluate the effects on VWF cleavage by ADAMTS13 under fluid shear stress and static/denaturing conditions. Additionally, the epitope of anti-VWF mAb (SZ34) was mapped using recombinant proteins in combination with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot analysis. The results indicate that mAb SZ34 inhibited proteolytic cleavage of VWF by ADAMTS13 in a concentration-dependent manner under fluid shear stress, but not under static/denaturing conditions. The binding epitope of SZ34 mAb is located between A1555 and G1595 in the central A2 domain of VWF. These data show that an anti-VWF mAb against the VWF-A2 domain (A1555-G1595) reduces the proteolytic cleavage of VWF by ADAMTS13 under shear stress, suggesting the role of this region in interaction with ADAMTS13